Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the wight has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Multiattack. The wight makes two longsword attacks or two longbow attacks. It can use its Life Drain in place of one longsword attack.
Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
A humanoid slain by this attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight's control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The wight can have no more than twelve zombies under its control at one time.
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage, or 7 (1d10 + 2) slashing damage if used with two hands.
Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.
Description
Wights are intelligent undead humanoids that resemble armed and armored corpses. They never tire in pursuit of their goal of making eternal war against the living.
Describe the following to your players to provide better immersion - (show, don't tell during their first encounter):
This medium creature resembles an armed and armored human corpse. Its wild, frantic eyes burn with malevolence. The leathery, desiccated flesh is drawn tight across its bones, and the teeth have grown into sharp, jagged needles.
In addition, you might want to allow them an Intelligence - Religion check to know the following (accumulated - a roll of 25 or above would know all):
DC5 (very easy): attacks twice with a weapon
DC10 (easy): has difficulty seeing and fighting while in the sun
DC15 (medium): has resistance to necrotic damage; additionally, it is resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't silvered
DC20 (hard): attacking the creature with poison has no effect and its life drain attack reduces opponents health maximum until a long rest
DC25 (very hard): immune to exhaustion and poisoned - a humanoid slain by a life drain attack rises as a zombie 24 hours later - additionally that it has darkvision out to 60'
Thanks
THANK YOU!!!!
I'm just saying, more undead should be vulnerable to radiant damage. At least if they also have sunlight sensitivity.
Sunlight blinds and irritates them.
That’s a particularly good piece of information to hand out on a modest lore role.
honestly, would add it myself as DM... it just makes sense
totally get it, as a DM i would likely add it. it just makes sense...
Don’t care for this art. I prefer the 1e version of the wight. Check it out.
**** man your a legend
I've thought the same but, no offense, it's a bad call. Vulnerability is incredibly strong in 5e, that's why *so few* creatures have any in the first place. Also, PCs have a lot more access to radiant damage than they likely would have in past editions, and more than you realize. Almost any cleric is going to take Sacred Flame for example, which is at-will radiant damage; and a lot of their better spells use radiant damage as well. Meanwhile, paladins are already the absolute bane of undead since their smite, which is already incredibly powerful, does extra damage to them... if they were ALSO vulnerable to that damage? Forget about it.
Honestly, it makes more sense to make them *resistant* to a whole bunch of stuff (or even almost everything) EXCEPT radiant than to make them vulnerable to radiant. In fact, that's precisely what 5e does a lot of the time, especially with incorporeal undead.
If undead were vulnerable to radiant damage one of two things would inevitably happen. First, they might just be given a ton more HP... which directly counteracts the point of making them vulnerable to radiant. If that didn't happen (and its a stupid idea so of course it wouldn't) then DMs would quickly realize that most parties are going to make stomping grounds of undead creatures... and stop using them. Worse, they would especially stop using them if there was a paladin in the party that dominated any encounter with undead and made the other players seem inconsequential in the shadow of their glory. And wow, now you have a character who excels at something so much that they don't get to do it... that sucks.
Obviously, your opinion may differ and that's fine... I just want to put the logic out there. Would-be DMs beware... vulnerability is awfully strong, and if you *really* feel that strongly about it I would recommend trying to make them resistant to everything except radiant (maybe fire, or magical/silver/cold iron weapons as well, depending on your viewpoint) before I went and actually made them vulnerable to anything.
I have questions. Are wights able to be contained or controlled by a necromancer or something? Do they always have to have been evil or pretty bad to become one, or can a "contract" be forced on to an unwilling creature by a manipulating necromancer? If not, is there another creature similar in deadliness and with these traits? Thanks!
--new and hopeful DM trying to make things work
I think a great low level encounter would be a wight, followed by its 12 zombies
Yes!
Create Undead can create up to 3 wights under the caster's control when upcast. All that is required is the corpses necessary, and for the spell to be cast at night.
Thanks man😄
My charecter has a wight bodygaurd named Paul
These are the Darkwraiths, anybody else think this?
As a gnomish evoker, I await with glee the day my DM gives me something with fire vulnerability
That setup completely works.
Necromancers can make this kind of undead, and are generally unscrupulous about where they get the souls they stuff into them.
”Conscious undead, forced into eternal service” is usually a theme associated with the mummy, which also has a soul. But, the Wight is more independent, and thus perhaps more useful for your purposes.
Can the Wight use two Life Drain attacks in one round or can it only make one?
The language is ambiguous and could be read either way. I would lean towards allowing it to make two attacks because it does not expressly prohibit it.